Signals from the Spire — Issue 1
Good morning, and welcome to Signals from the Spire. I’m your host, Contrariwise.
I’ve been scouring the internet like some kind of feral half-wizard half-raccoon looking for the choicest morsels for people who are, at their core, our kind of weird. I hope they tingle your cerebellum.
To Be Licked With The Eyes
People Make Games — He Won’t Stop Building a Map to an Imaginary Place
If you’re like us, you’ve probably already seen this. If you haven’t already seen this, stop what you’re doing and perceive it immediately.
Jerry Gretzinger has been building a hand-drawn, endlessly expanding map since 1963, using a deck of cards as his guide. The map is interesting enough on its own, but the system he built around it is perhaps the most fascinating part.
I’ve already seen at least one other creator adapt a similar system for randomizing their hobby, and I’ve been tinkering with how to make a world-building game on top of this substrate on my lunchtime Hot Wizard Walks.
To Be Licked With The Hands
RACCOIN: Coin Pusher Roguelike
Roguelikes usually aren’t for me. I’m more narratively driven, but also I really don’t like starting over as a mechanic.
That said, who can resist a coin pusher? Let me tell you. Nobody.
Fun fact, a hundred years ago I managed a small arcade, and the machine that reliably made the most money in the entire building was whichever coin pusher was closest to the front door. True story.
Someday I’ll figure out how to make a craps roguelike and then we’re all done for.
EverQuest is back, baby. Sort of. If you’re the kind of person that likes MMORPGs in theory, but perhaps rarely in practice, this might be up your alley. EverQuest Legends reimagines EverQuest as a solo-first, casual experience.
There’s still a subscription, because servers aren’t free, but it’s modest. If you were ever curious about the glory days of MMOs, I expect this will be a good way to taste a crumb of what it was like.
To Be Licked With The Brain
You ever heard of “twelfty?” Me either. Germanic countries used to use “hundred” to mean 120. (Most of the time.) But then Standards and Practices was all like, “no. Stop that.”
With the rise of Arabic numerals we all eventually conceded (except the French? I think? I don’t speak French,) and agreed that a nice round 100 was a lot more sensible. So the old “hundred” became the “long hundred,” or twelfty.
And now you know.
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